This article is about a “GFCF Kids Diet Survey” which is an internet based survey used to gather information about dietary intervention such as a GFCF diet, for patients on the autistic spectrum. This article explains that many researchers are working to find the possible link between “incomplete breakdown of proteins (identified by the abnormal presence of opiate peptides found in urine samples), and several kinds of health problems hitherto classified as "mental." Among these problems are Autism, Pervasive Development Disorder (PDD) and Asperger’s Syndrome.”

The survey was designed so that researchers would be able to collect as much information as possible on the diet, and then analyze the data in an effort to shed more light on the possible connections.  The survey consisted of two questionnaires, called the Main Survey form and the Infringements Experience form. The three basic questions asked in the survey are: “What percentage of respondents get better on the diet, how much improvement can there be, and how fast does this happen?”  In addition to those questions, the survey also asks questions such as, “Why do some patients get better results than others? What are the similarities and differences between those who do well on the diet, and those who don't?” The article also discuss the various aspects of the survey, such as the methods used, the surveys reliability, as well as the specific questions included in the main and infringement questionnaires. 

The conclusion of this survey suggests that although the results are from an informal survey, they indeed support the belief that dietary intervention “can be a valuable treatment option for some people with autism spectrum disorders, and in some cases, may lead to the complete reversal of autistic behaviors.”  The results also suggest that” time” is one of the most crucial factors in this diet, meaning that a patents success has a lot to do with the patients age at the time the diet was implemented.

If you are interested in learning more about this survey, follow this link:
http://www.gfcfdiet.com/dietsurveysept2.htm

When I started reading the first chapter of the collaborative writing article, I really was rather confused about what the authors were saying.  I didn’t really begin to understand where they were going with everything until I reached the second chapter, where they began explaining the hierarchy of writers.  To be honest, I actually thought it was all pretty interesting, especially because of how I’ve always viewed group work, which from my experiences, has been neither cooperative nor collaborative, to say the least.

When I finished reading the chapters, I truly thought I had a really good grasp on the difference between cooperative and collaborative writing.  So much so, that I had absolutely no issues when writing my summary.  In fact, it all made perfect sense as I was writing it, but as soon as I tried to actually verbalize the differences in my own words, I realized that I wasn’t quite as clear on it as I had thought. It seems easier to say what collaborative writing is not, rather than what it is.

Though I may not be perfectly clear on the differences between cooperative and collaborative writing, I can certainly say that I have had some of the worst experiences ever with “cooperative” writing.  About 90 percent of the time I am the one who gets stuck doing most of the work in group projects, even when we each member has a specific role in the group.  

Although I would like to sit here and blame everyone else for the many reasons I hate group work, I think it’s only fair that admit that I am a lot of the reason I hate it so much.  But then again, this is only because I’ve been permanently scarred from my past experiences.  What I mean when I say it is partially my fault, is that I’m a tiny bit of a control freak when it comes to my schoolwork, and I can’t stand to turn something in if I don’t feel that it is up to my standards. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve had to go back and redo someone’s work because they haven’t even done so much as to take a few minutes to reread their work and check for proofreading errors before giving it to me. 

Having said this, I would like to note that for the first time ever, I am not having any issues with my current partner.  Though I wouldn’t necessarily say that we’re working collaboratively, I would say that we are certainly working cooperatively together.  I’m not sure if we’re following the correct approach to this assignment, especially since it’s called collaborative research, but the way we see it,  it’s best to go our separate ways in our research (while communicating often) in order to cover more ground.  Hopefully one day I’ll fully understand how to work collaboratively because of course, two heads are better than one, but for now I think I’ll  have to settle for the cooperative approach, or at least until graduation.

When we first started brainstorming ideas for our research, we had originally decided that we would like to research the possible link between the rapid maturation and early puberty of today’s children and the growth hormones found in foods.  Our primary research question for this topic was “Are growth hormones in foods linked to the rapid maturation of today’s children?  (see previous post for research questions) Kim and I both agreed that this would be a very interesting topic to research and we were extremely curious about what we would find.  The only issue that were having was that we were not exactly sure that the people we were considering as possible interviewees would possess the knowledge necessary for answering our research questions.  After considering the potential issue we may face in our research, we decided to go back and do a little more brainstorming to see if we could come up with a topic that more people would have knowledge of. 

Though we have not completely abandoned our original research question(s), we did come to an agreement that it would be interesting to research the connection between gluten and casein and autism spectrum disorders.  Due to the fact that we both know people who have autistic children, and that there are plenty of people who have a lot of knowledge in this area, we thought that we may have better results in our research and interviews.


Can a gluten and casein-free (GFCF) diet really help to improve the symptoms of autism spectrum disorders?

1.   What exactly is gluten?
2.  What kinds of foods contain gluten?
3.  What is casein?
4.  What kinds of foods contain casein?
5.  How do gluten and casein affect the body when ingested?
6.  Is there any evidence that suggests gluten and casein are linked to autism?
7.  How have people come to the conclusion that a GFCF diet is linked to autism?
8.  Are children receiving adequate nutrition if they are on a GFCF diet?
9.  Is maintaining a GFCF diet expensive?
10. Why is it that some people are convinced that a GFCF diet helps to reduce the symptoms of autism while others a convinced that the two are completely unrelated?

1.  In what ways can hormones affect our environment?
2.  If growth hormones have such a large affect on the rate at which animals grow , how are our bodies affected after consuming those same animals and animal products?
3. , What exactly are growth hormones?
4.  Are the growth hormones found in our food related to the increased rate of breast cancer?
5.  If I can’t buy all organic foods, which organic foods should I buy first?
6.  If the pesticides, hormones, and additives in our food are still relatively new to the food industry, how can we know how they will affect our health down the road after years of consumption?
7.  Can washing produce eliminate the pesticides?
8.  How many other countries are injecting their animals with growth hormones for food production?
9.  What foods contain grow?
10.  Do the growth hormones found in meat and dairy products have anything  do with why girls and boys are going through puberty at such a young age?

What is Oral History?

In the article What is Oral History?, the author defines oral history “as a self-conscious, disciplined conversation between two people about some aspect of the past considered by them to be of historical significance and intentionally recorded for the record” (2).  One of the things the author discusses is that in the past, “the absence of audio- and videotape recorders—or digital recording devices—necessitated reliance on human note-takers, thus raising questions about reliability and veracity” (2).

For so long we have relied on technology for interviews that it is hard to imagine what the interview process was like without it. I can’t help but wonder just how many people’s stories have been inaccurately retold throughout history as a result of human error during the initial note taking process years ago.  I know from my own personal experience with conducting interviews how easy it is to misconstrue information when taking notes by hand.  There have been instances when I have gone back to my notes following an interview and had an extremely difficult time trying to recall exactly what it was that they were saying, due to my inability to effectively and accurately jot down their exact response to my question.  I found that many of the times that I had difficulty deciphering my notes were because I was unable to keep up with what the person was saying as they spoke, so I instead shortened his or her responses by rephrasing their words into my own.  Because of this, their actual response to my question may have been inaccurately retold as a result of how I interpreted it.

While I understand the importance of using recording devices to have the most accurate records of an oral history, I still am curious about the reliability of the oral history itself.  If the interviewer is supposed to rely solely on what the narrator is telling them, then how can they be sure that what they are saying is completely true?  I know plenty of people that love to embellish their stories to make them more entertaining, and there are even some people that have convinced themselves that something has happened, when in all actuality none of it took place. So my question here is, who is to say what is fact and what is fiction?  I am sure that in most cases the narrators are being truthful, but I think that there could also be some who have been less than honest in their story telling.

 

Like It Was: Chapter 3

When reading this chapter, I was quite surprised to learn the amount of preparation that needs to go into an interview in order to have a successful and interesting outcome.  Though I always understood that an interview requires a certain amount of planning, I never really thought about all of the things that an interviewer needs to consider before ever even beginning  to think about the questions they will ask. 

One thing that I found to be especially interesting was the connection between the interviewer and the narrator.  It seems as though there is a delicate balance between the interviewer saying just enough to get the narrator to trust and open up to them, and the interviewer being sure not to say so much that they disrupt the flow of the interview.  It appears to be a difficult task for an interviewer to try to maintain a good relationship with the narrator because they are required to do a lot of multitasking and thinking on their feet.

 I never would have thought that the chemistry between the interviewer and the narrator could be such a big factor in the information that comes from an interview.  Now having read this, it makes perfect sense that the interviewer establishes a good connection with the narrator.  If the narrator does not feel comfortable, they will not want to share the most intimate details of their story, which could take away from a potentially great story. I can also see how important it is that the interviewer pays careful attention to everything from the kinds of questions they ask, at what points in the interview they ask the questions, how they phrase the question, the way in which they deliver the question, their level of background knowledge on the subject, when certain questions are not working, when to push for more details, and even the type of body language and facial expressions displayed throughout the interview.

I though this reading was both extremely  informative, and now that I have gained such a better understanding of the interview process and everything it entails, I look forward to this next assignment.  Although I am still a little unclear as to exactly what we will be doing, I am pretty excited to venture into a project such as this because I think it will be far different from anything I have ever done before.

1.       How has technology impacted your writing/composing?

It wasn’t until recently that I understood just how much technology has impacted my writing.  I always viewed technology to be more of a convenience (or at times, inconvenience, depending on what I’m trying to do) than anything else.  Before taking this class, I viewed technology as a tool that allowed me to quickly complete my writing tasks and easily access information.  I had very little experience with blogging and tweeting, so I had no idea how much they truly could impact my writing.

One of the main reasons my writing has been impacted by technology is because I have become so much more aware of my audience.  Although I have always considered my audience in past writing assignments, I knew that in the end, my only real audience was my professor; therefore, I adjusted my writing in order to please whoever was grading my paper.  Now, sites like Twitter and Weebly have made me really evaluate everything I say because my audience extends far beyond the classroom.

 I have always been an extremely private (or as Stites would say, “mysterious”) person, and have never been all that comfortable with exposing anything personal about myself.  I’ve never been a member on  Facebook or Myspace, personal dating sites, or anything else related to social networking or blogging, and because of that, it has taken me some time  to warm up to the idea that my words are out there for the world to see.  Even when I look at my tweets, I see that a lot of them are not things that I have said; rather, they’re other’s quotes that I used to convey certain emotions I was feeling at the time.  For example, there were a lot of times when I was feeling extremely sad because I was thinking about my dad, but because I was not willing to be vulnerable and expose those feelings, I used quotes that I have come across over the years, to express my real emotions.  Although I did my best to go with the flow, it just isn’t in my personality to constantly share my feelings with complete strangers.  

While I have come to appreciate technology, and all that it has to offer, reading Rock My Network has  reinforced any negative feelings I may have had towards the social networking community by proving just how ridiculous some of it can be.  I know I can sound a little cynical, and I my intentions are not to offend the people within that community, but social networking just isn’t for me. 

Though I am not all that crazy about Twitter, and it’s taken some time to get used to blogging, I am glad that I have been forced to experiment with both, because forcing me out of my comfort zone has allowed me to grow as a writer.

2.       How has technology connected or made you mindful of your writing and place?

One way technology has made me more mindful of my writing is because it allows me evaluate and assess what ist is that I hafe said, which can have both positive and negative effects on my writing.  When I read what others have written, it can help to confirm something I have said, but it can also  cause me to second guess myself and feel less confident about what I have written.  Technology allows me to see what other people have to say and to gain a different perspective on certain topics, which in turn helps me to further develop my own ideas. 

At first, I had a difficult time understanding how I was going to find my place just through tweeting about random observations.  It wasn’t until I tweeted for about a month, that I began to notice a repetend within my tweets.  Though I have mentioned before that I am not a huge fan of twitter, I will admit that I like the fact that I can look back at something I tweeted months ago and use it as inspiration for my writing.  not only that, but I also think it’s pretty cool that my tweets are almost like a mini journal entry, and when I look back at them, I can remember exactly what I was doing or thinking at the time that I wrote it.

3.       How has technology impacted your identity construction?

Because I don’t belong to any social networking sites other than twitter, it is hard to say how technology has impacted my identity.  I am pretty much the same person, regardless of the technology I am using.  I can see how a lot of people’s identities may differ when comparing the person they are on Facebook and the person they are on Weebly, but since the majority of technology I use is related to my academic life, I can only identify with that area.  Though, I will say that there are plenty of times that I’ve had to censor myself on twitter for the purposes of this class.  I think it’s possible that I would like Twitter a bit more if I knew I could write something without having to worry what my professor might think about it.

1.       Were my genres effective in telling my story?
2.       Does my audience understand my connection to my place?
3.       Should I have incorporated more genres within my Twitterive?
4.       Did I have too much information in one area and too little in another?
5.       What things should I consider revising?
6.       What else could I have done to improve my Twitterive?